Healthy Blog Reviews

Google continues to change the face of the SERP’s (search engine results page) by taking more real estate on the first page with information that expands on the traditional “blue text link” results. Yesterday, they took a feature that has been around for a while but, as they put it in the Official Google Blog, “hasn’t been too visible” until now. Simply put, Google is telling its users what pages are similar in specific direct searches and taking out the need for another click to find them. From the Google blog : We’ve offered a “Similar” feature on results for a while now as a way to discover new, useful sites, but it hasn’t been too visible. Since we’ve been continuously improving this feature and we think it’s really useful, we’re now going to start showing these alternative sites more prominently. Starting this week, for queries where similar sites are likely to be helpful, we’ll display a list of “Pages similar” at the bottom of the results page. For example, this is the list of sites similar to Direct Relief International: I first became aware of this from Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land who posted before the official Google announcement and shared a result he produced below This kind of a result is much more interesting in many respects because looking for the right charity doesn’t feel like you are doing something competitive. Looking for information on search engine and Internet marketing, however, is truly competitive and most folks won’t be too thrilled about Google “advertising” for the competition when someone is searching for your site directly. So how this new feature is rolled out by Google should be interesting to follow. Imagine one day if Google would ask each business “Who are you similar to?” and starts to find another way to generate revenue. I would hope this would never happen because then that means that the SERP’s were truly “for sale” rather than on merit. Some would say that’s the case today already but I’ll let you fight that out amongst yourselves. Your thoughts?

Tags: cloud-computing, competition, direct-relief, official, real-estate, Search, search-engine, serp, similar-search
Posted April 28, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Last fall Google made it easy for brands to make their paid search ads around their own branded terms stand out with its SiteLinks program. The idea being that these brands should have some advantage since they are, well, the brand. Seems like a great idea except when some of these brands have been getting their search bills. The program works so well in some cases that the search spend because of these special ads have gone up dramatically for some. AdAge reports A typical search ad contains one link, or sometimes two — one to the advertiser’s home page and sometimes one geographic link. Ad Sitelinks allows advertisers as many as five links in three lines of text. Macy’s, for example includes links to “free shipping deals,” “shop online,” “find a store,” and “account login,” in addition to a link to its home page. Toys “R” Us includes a link that says, “Buy one get one free little tikes!” An SiteLink ad for Toys R Us looks like the one below. The trouble is that often times a searcher will click on the paid ad instead of organic ad that they would have clicked on in the past. Google meanwhile gets to sit back and say that their program is a success because the brands are getting their clicks. Of course, they are also pretty excited about the extra search revenue being wrung out of some of these advertisers. These deeper links bypass the advertiser’s home page but are giving them a huge increase in click-throughs; Google estimates a 30% to 40% increase over standard search ads. That click-through success has caused trouble for some marketers: Consumers searching for a brand using Google will click on the sponsored ad and not on the organic result. And all those clicks on the Sitelinks ad are also driving marketers’ search ad bills up 30% to 40%. Not everyone is all that upset though because the extra cost, while sometimes capturing their existing customers, are allowing for a brand to take up considerable real estate in the SERP’s. One such brand, Nationwide Insurance, sees the program as a winner because it allows for greater flexibility in their search messaging. For a company already spending 50% of their digital marketing budget on search, Nationwide is happy to reach existing customers and sell them additional products and services. “In contrast to the organic results, I control the experience there,” said Chris Cotton, director of interactive marketing for the insurer. For existing customers, he said, “it allows me to demonstrate other products they may or may not have.” So as with most things Google somehow manages to have its cake, eat it and then do a “burp and blow” over everyone and come away with accolades for innovation and more cash in the coffers. Time and again what looks like a scheme to extract more money from advertisers to some can be a complete advertising blessing to others. Good work if you can get it, right? How do you view these ads? Are they a good thing or a bad thing for the overall market? We know they can work for the brand itself but what about others?

Tags: digital, extra, organic, paid, program, real-estate, Search
Posted March 24, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

It sounds like a cross between Tomorrowland and a college dorm: Google wants on- (or near-) campus housing for their employees . Yes, the free on-campus laundry, free on-campus eateries, on-campus childcare (I’m just assuming that’s not free, but you never know) and free on-campus exercise facilities (making them 75% more free than where I went to college, but anyway) are just not enough to keep their employees at the Googleplex enough hours of the day. I don’t think the housing will be free, but you never know. This doesn’t necessarily mean Google has any plans to get into real estate development . Remember their wireless spectrum bluff ? Google may be appealing to make the change, hoping if you “rezone it, they will come.” It’s not a terrible theory—potential builders would have a built-in set of potential renters/buyers for the residential properties, which would make office retail space desirable there, too. So Google probably isn’t trying to take over every aspect of their employees’ lives (despite what it seems like with the on-campus oil changes, doctors, masseuses and dry cleaning drop off—which are not free, I assume). In fact, it started as the exact opposite—housing and services convenient to the Googleplex are virtually nonexistent. No, they’re not just coddling their employees so they can attract those recent college grads who’ve had Mom do their laundry for the last 20+ years . In fact, Google may be trying to save money with this move: some employees live so far away (and the Googleplex doesn’t have a lot of public transit access) that Google provides luxury buses with Wi-Fi for employees commuting from San Francisco. So what’s a multi-billion dollar corporation to do? Well, first, they start off with the proper legal channels. Last week, they wrote a letter to Mountain View, preparing to ask for zoning changes to allow housing in the nearby area. Naturally, they’re also being careful to plan sustainable development: Our goals for Google’s HQ are to provide a future redevelopment that is nurturing and regenerative to the environment provide a vibrant community and worklife balance [I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry there] for all and efficiently manage transportation and pedestrian access needs. This must include mixed uses office retail and residential along with the kind of land use development described in the Final Report by the Mountain View Environmental Sustainability Task Force. So their plans aren’t just to build apartment buildings—they want strip malls, too. Ah, yes, then life will be complete . The current zoning is for commercial use only. The city is preparing to discuss zoning changes, but don’t expect to move into your Google-themed housing too soon. TechCrunch also has the full memo from the Mountain View City Planner to the City Council, preparing to discuss the zoning changes: What do you think? Will Google get its real estate dreams? Will they be building, or will they step back and let others do the heavy lifting? Photo by Joe Penniston Join the Marketing Pilgrim Facebook Community

Tags: city, council, employees, environment, googleplex, make-the-change, marketing, mountain, mountain-view, plans, real-estate, residential, Search, zoning-changes
Posted February 19, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media